‘This Girl Can Sheffield’ a resounding success

Stephanie Bateman

More than 600 women and girls proved that Sheffield girls can thanks to a range of exercise sessions offered across the region.

The latest This Girl Can Sheffield campaign saw 662 young women, aged between 16 and 25, try out at least 19 new activities over between June 2016 and March 2017.

Of those girls, 590 have continued to attend sessions following the campaign. Ice skating lessons, group fitness classes and trampolining were among the activities on offer to girls who were considered inactive according to Sport England’s policies.

With two million fewer women than men and boys aged 14-40 regularly doing sport, research shows that women are more likely to only become active because of body image and competency fears.

Rachel Greg, funding and grants assistant at SIV, said: “We are delighted that so many young women joined us during our This Girl Can Sheffield campaign.

“This Girl Can is all about inspiring women to get active in a positive environment and we’re keen to encourage more people to get involved.

“At SIV, one of our main goals is helping the people of Sheffield get fitter so initiatives like This Girl Can Sheffield are vital in helping us achieve this.” This Girl Can Sheffield was managed by SIV, who were granted funding from Sport England to host the initiative, and commissioned different organisations throughout the city to deliver sessions.

Part of the national campaign developed by Sport England, This Girl Can Sheffield was supported locally by 20 partners, including - Move More, Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre, Pakistan Advice & Community Association, School Sports Partnerships, Places for People, Foxhill Forum, Abbeydale Tennis Club, Sheffield United Community Foundation and Football Unites Racism Divides (FURD).

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